US Loses Out To South Korea Over Extradition Of Terraform Labs’ Do Kwon
By Benzinga
Do Kwon, the disgraced co-founder of Terraform Labs, is set to be extradited from Montenegro to South Korea, as per a court ruling. The decision rejects a U.S. extradition request.
What Happened: The Appellate Court of Montenegro upheld a previous decision by the High Court of Podgorica to hand over Kwon to his home country, South Korea, over the U.S., both of which are seeking his extradition, CoinDesk reported Thursday.
The recent ruling is expected to end the ongoing tug-of-war over Kwon’s extradition destination. Despite previous successful appeals against U.S. extradition, the decision to send him to South Korea was postponed by the country’s Supreme Court. The final decision on Kwon’s extradition will be made by Montenegro’s Minister of Justice, as per the Office of the Supreme State Prosecutor.
As of now, no date has been set for Kwon’s extradition.
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Why It Matters: The litigation against Terraform Labs and Do Kwon has been continuing for more than two years. In April, a United States District Court ruled that Terraform Labs and Kwon defrauded investors during the stunning collapse of stablecoin TerraUSD (CRYPTO: UST) and associated cryptocurrency Terra (CRYPTO: LUNA), an event that wiped out more than $40 billion in investors’ wealth in a single week and triggered a cryptocurrency bear market.
In June, Terraform Labs agreed to a civil settlement of $4.47 billion with the SEC after being found guilty. as per another Benzinga article. The judgment includes $4.05 billion of disgorgement plus interest, and a $420 million civil fine.
After Terra’s collapse, Kwon vanished. In September 2022, Interpol issued a red notice for him. He was apprehended in Montenegro in March 2023 for attempting to use a fake Costa Rican passport to travel to Dubai. Despite an initial four-month sentence for using falsified documents, Kwon stayed in jail until his release on bail in March earlier this year.
Price Action: At the time of writing, Terra Classic (CRYPTO: LUNC), LUNA’s rebranded avatar, was exchanging hands at $0.00007758, down 1.23% in the last 24 hours, according to data from Benzinga Pro.
Photo Courtesy: Shutterstock.com
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Disclaimer: This content was partially produced with the help of Benzinga Neuro and was reviewed and published by Benzinga editors.
